First Wave (Mutants and Masterminds 3E)

Game Master Sobran

This is a campaign that follows the trials and tribulations of a small group of the first super-powered people in the world. In this tale they try to do good, stop evil, and uncover the mystery behind their creation.


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This is for mid-game discussion. Rules questions or need clarification about what is happening? Discuss virtually anything here!


Yeah, if someone has a suggestion for the name for my "deck of many things" array, I am all ears. That is just where I got the idea, so it is what I have been tentatively calling it. The majority of the points I think is going to the array, with some points going to increased intelligence, and towards the magic advantages. The only extra thing that I think that I might add is a enchanted jacket or something for some extra protection. My main plan is that as he gets more experience, he will develop new cards for his array, or maybe make some more magical trinkets.


Okay, let's move the character building over here, for those that are already in. When you folks get first drafts finished, post them up here by all means and lets see if we can't start building a group.

On the communication front, it has been suggested by at least two of you that we use another service for communication beyond just the boards. I hadn't originally planned on it, but it's starting to sound like a good idea. What are your preferences? Skype? WeChat? I'll have to install the program regardless, so it makes no difference to me.

Wait. I lied. I will not use AIM. America Online can die in a fire.

Once we settle on a service, we can exchange usernames and communicate that way as well. This is purely optional by the way. If someone doesn't want to use an IM service or is worried about accidentally leaking private information, you are in no way obligated to use it and it will not affect your place in the game.


Pardum wrote:
Yeah, if someone has a suggestion for the name for my "deck of many things" array, I am all ears. That is just where I got the idea, so it is what I have been tentatively calling it. The majority of the points I think is going to the array, with some points going to increased intelligence, and towards the magic advantages. The only extra thing that I think that I might add is a enchanted jacket or something for some extra protection. My main plan is that as he gets more experience, he will develop new cards for his array, or maybe make some more magical trinkets.

I like the idea that he's an enchanter with the ability to expand his deck. It hadn't occurred to me when you mentioned the initial concept. You plan on picking up the relevant advantage, I imagine? That would let you be the magical equivalent of Batman, cobbling together enchanted wibblewobbims to suit your need.

As an aside, I always liked the idea of the Deck of Many Things. I never had the balls to use one in a D&D campaign however, given its reputation as the Campaign Ender. This is like the next best thing. I look forward to seeing what sort of mad powers you plan on putting in this array.

If no one thinks of a name, I honestly don't care that much. Maybe your character played D&D at some point.


Quote:
I'll have to install the program regardless, so it makes no difference to me

Same for me. Though I have heard that google hangouts tends to be good for roleplaying groups.


Pardum wrote:
I have heard that google hangouts tends to be good for roleplaying groups.

That's true. I've heard some groups actually play their whole game through Google Hangouts. I do have an Android phone, so Advantage: 1 to Hangouts I suppose.


Male Human Monk 5 (Qinggong Master of Many Styles from the Sacred Mountain)/Fighter (Brawler) 3

I've played Way of the Wicked via Hangouts, it works well. Easier to get alerts on your phone than Skype as well.


To recap, here's what I have so far from the Reddit arrivals:

Pardum: Precog/Magician. He's made it here and is in the discussion.

thelongestshot/Sir Raymond Something: Concept in flux. Metamorph/Low-level Psychic? Definite ability to steal physical traits (fingerprints, retinal map, ect) and memories from others. He stopped by this board to say hi, but has primarily communicated via Reddit. I think he's still getting up to speed on how to build a character.

Trodskij: Punisher meets technomancer. I think. He hasn't made it over to this board, but last I heard he had his character partially built. I believe he said he was busy until early in the week, so I'm still hoping to see him here in the next day or two.

Others: There were other interested parties on Reddit, but they either didn't stay in touch or didn't make it over here. Or both. If one of them shows up with a solid concept, I won't rule them out.

So that's the three concepts that are, I believe, definite. Correct me if I'm wrong. That's actually less than I thought we had. In the Recruitment thread, you can see some ideas being bandied about. Of those that have settled on a concept:

Rynjin: Electrokinetic. Possible weather abilities. He was an early arrival, has stayed in contact, and has a solid concept. All good qualities in this play format.

Jaster Kite: Chaos Energy Controller. This was the first person to get me a draft. We worked out some details via PM. You can actually see his (tentatively) finished character sheet here. A plain-text version is available in his profile. He's mostly a blaster with teleportation and couple of interesting tricks. Lowish defenses, but hefty regeneration abilities. Street urchin, mouthy teenager. (The character, not the player.)

Others: There are a couple of others that are interested and still settling on a concept. When the time comes, I would like you guys (thelongestshot, Trodskij, and Pardum) to help me decide who should join. Reliability is important, but so is the player's personality and how their concept fits in with the group.

To that end, feel free to start introducing yourselves to each other. I'd like to hash out how you see this group operating. With a limited Precog and an Identity Thief, I can see this taking a stealthy, espionage turn. But that is largely down to how you three want to approach things. I want to make sure we're all on the same page here.

I think it might be a good idea if every character knows at least one other character in the group. I don't want to do a 'party meets in the bar' scene. You'll have to talk to one another to work this out. I like what I've seen of your concepts and I hope to be able to move forward with this by next week. To do that, I'll need to see something approaching a draft by the middle of the week.


I am thinking about making two arrays, one for offensive and defensive powers, and one for utility powers. So that way I can still have some utility powers, and it ties in with my random theme, but that way we won't get into combat and all of a sudden, boom I can see in the dark instead of attacking.


That's fine. Be careful about putting defense and offense in the same array unless you want your shield to shut down when you throw a bomb card or something.


Crazy Lou! That's who I forgot. He's making a bruiser with elongation. Sorry Lou!


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Okay! So, I have a fully PL8 Dough Joe. Problem is, we've been given 135 points... I need a good 15 points more of things that actually work, and he already feels a little power-bloated. I could take a few ranks of Improved Initiative, but that's about it.

Sheet:

Dough Joe
PL8

Abilities
Strength 8, Stamina 2, Agility 2, Dexterity 0, Fighting 4, Intellect 0, Awareness 2, Presence 0

Powers
Doughy Body:
Dense Dough: Protection 10 [Impervious], Resilient Dough: Enhanced Advantages 2 [Diehard, Great Endurance], Wrapping Dough: Enhanced Advantages 2 [Improved Grab, Improved Hold], Powerful Dough: Enhanced Strength 5, Reconstructive Dough: Healing 5 [Limited to self]
(39 points)
Rubbery Dough:
Stretchy Dough: Elongation 3
Alt: Bouncy Dough: Leaping 3
(4 points)
Tae Kwon Dough:
Super Stretchy Dough Punch: Damage 4 [Area (Line), Strength-Based; Inaccurate (3)]
Alt: Ear Boxing: Affliction 5 [Resisted and Overcome by Will; Dazed and Impared, Disabled and Stunned; Extra Effect; Limited Degree]
(11 points)
Abs of Dough:
Brickwall Dough: Damage 3 [Reaction (to being hit); Limited to effect rank or attack’s Damage rank, whichever is less]
Alt: Cushiony Dough: Immunity 7 [Bludgeoning Damage, Critical Hits]
(10 points)

Equipment
Headquarters: Dojo [The Dojo Joe lives, works, trains, and teaches at. Situated in a secluded part of town.]
Gym, Living Space, Secret
Standard Equipment
Cell Phone (2 ep), Camera (1 ep), Video Camera (2 ep), Computer (1 ep), Camera (1 ep)

Advantages
All-out Attack, Power Attack, Diehard, Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Interpose, Weapon Bind, Great Endurance, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Equipment 2

Skills
Acrobatics 2 (+4), Athletics 4 (+12), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+8), Deception (+0), Insight (+2), Intimidation (+0), Perception 4 (+6), Persuasion (+0), Stealth (+2)

Offense
Initiative +2
Unarmed Damage +8, Damage 8
S.S. Dough Punch +4, Damage 12, Line Area 60ft by 6ft
Grab DC 11, Hold DC 16

Defense
Dodge 4, Parry 4
Toughness 12 (Def Roll 0), Fortitude 10, Will 6

Power Points
Abilities 26 + Powers 64 + Advantages 9 + Skills 7 + Defenses 14 = Total 120

Complications
Guilt: Joe feels responsible for his sensei's disability. He goes out and fights crime to try and make things right.
Identity: Joe wears a mask when fighting crime to keep his identity secret.
Honor/Regret: If not for his powers, Joe would have gone on to tournaments and challenge other people, but to do so now would be cheating.

The "Abs of Dough" power is intended to be kind of modal; if he uses his reaction for the damage, he's not immune until he has another reaction to use (so his next turn) and he can't be immune to the attack he's reacting to. I believe rules-wise he has to choose before actually taking the hit, as well. I could pull the damage down a rank (or scrounge another fitting immunity) if it would make more sense to have the reaction as the alternate instead. Alternately, I could toss it, I'm not in love with the reaction damage but I need to fill out my points. I'm open to ideas.


Here is my guy. I will add in the complications and background later in the week when I get a chance.

Sheet:
=Dr. Fate=
===PL8===
===Abilities===
Strength 0, Stamina 0, Agility 1, Dexterity 5, Fighting 0, Intellect 7, Awareness 7, Presence 3

===Powers===
Offensive suit:
Alt: Earthquake: Affliction 5 [Resisted by dodge, overcome by fortitude (dazed and vulerable, stunned and prone); Ranged, Extra condition, Burst area 3, Alternate resistance (dodge); Limited degree, Random (-1/r)]
Alt: Eldrich claws: Damage 5 [Random; Affects insubstantial, Penetrating 2]
Alt: Webs: Affliction 5 [Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage (hindered and vulnerable, Defensless and Immobilized); Ranged, Extra condition, Area (Cloud); Limited degree, Random]
Alt: Terrifying Visage: Affliction 7 [(Resisted and overcome by Will, Entranced, Compelled, Controlled (limited to fleeing or cowering in terror); Perception ranged; Random, limited]
Soulfire: Damage 8 [Resisted by Will, burns the spirit; Perception range, Alternate resistance; Random]
Alt: Hell banisment: Movement 1 [Resisted by Dodge or will, resistance DC 15; Attack, Perception ranged; random; +2 resistance DC]
Alt: Sleep cloud: Affliction 5 [resisted and overcome by will (fatigued, exausted, asleep); Ranged, Area cloud, Cumlative, ; Random]
Alt: Mystic bolt: Damage 10 [Ranged, homing; Random]
(31 points)
Defensive suit:
Ageis of Abbridon: Impervious Toughness 9 [Sustained; Random]
Alt: Cloak of Idolon: Concealment 4 [Magic, Sight; Sustained; Random]
Alt: Mind Shield: Enhanced Will 8 [limited to mental powers; Impervious, Sustained; Limited, random]
Alt: Slickskin: Immunity 5 [Grab and Entrapment effects; Sustained; Random]
Alt: Massive weight: Immunity 10 [Being moved; Sustained; Random]
Alt: Unconcous blink: Teleport 2 [Reaction (imminent attack); Random]
(14 points)
Utility suit:
Alt: Wraith form: Insubstantial 2 [Random]
Alt: Shadow tendrils: Move Object 2 [Sustained ; Random; Precise]
Beast of Bal'Hemoth: Summon 5 [Demon warrior (GG pg. 137) or Monstrous spider (GG pg. 140); Active; Random]
Alt: Blink: Teleport 3 [Accurate, ; Random; Turnabout]
(13 points)
Enchanted coat:
Protection enchantments: Protection 5, Dimensional pockets: Feature 2 [Has extradimensoal storage wher max. mass rank= effect rank]
(7 points)
Precognition [limited to 6 hours]:

(2 points)"

===Equipment===

===Advantages===
Ritualist, Artificer

===Skills===
Athletics (+0), Deception (+3), Expertise: Biology 3 (+10), Expertise: Magic 5 (+12), Insight (+7), Intimidation (+3), Perception (+7), Persuasion (+3), Ranged Combat: Card effects 2 (+7), Sleight of Hand 1 (+6), Stealth (+1), Treatment 1 (+8)

===Offense===
Initiative +1
Ranged card effect +7, Damage See sheet, The effects are numbered 1-8 as listed on the sheet

===Defense===
Dodge 7, Parry 3
Toughness 5 (Def Roll 0), Fortitude 3, Will 9

===Power Points===
===Abilities 46 + Powers 67 + Advantages 2 + Skills 6 + Defenses 14 = Total 135===

===Complications===

===Design Notes===


Pardum wrote:

Here is my guy. I will add in the complications and background later in the week when I get a chance.

** spoiler omitted **...

I'm gonna go ahead and help since I'm online and could use some experience helping others.

The first red flag is that I can see you're breaking Power Level limits on a couple of things, most notably your Protection power. I believe we're using the same excel document to generate our characters, so check out the Calc tab; it should be giving you red errors on both your "Dodge and Toughness" and your "Parry and Toughness" categories. That's because, since our set series Power Level is 8, the cap for the sum of those two is 16, twice series PL. The Protection power bumps your Toughness all the way up to 14, which totals 17 on Tough+Parry and 21 on Tough+Dodge. Your Will defense is also breaking its limit with that power in effect.

Then, with your offenses, your Damage powers are also breaking the 16 limit. Since your accuracy with your attacks is +7, the effect rank can't break 9. Your Mystic Bolt attack, with Damage 10, does. I believe the rest are fine, limit-wise.

Concerning your defenses, be careful. I wouldn't make them rely on your randomness mechanic; you'd hate to have to waste turns looking for your mind shield while the psychic is wailing on you. If you need a drawback for defenses, consider making it take a move action to change/activate one. It also helps the parallel between you and frontliner like my character, who's just always that tough.

Make sure you make a component for that Precognition power. This sheet heavily favors "Powers" made of several "sub-Powers", so it can look weird, but you don't need to name the component anything fancy.

Other than that, it looks alright. I know it doesn't fit the sheet, but punch in each of your attacks in the Calc tab to check that they're within limits. They appear to be, but I'm not looking that closely.
The reaction alt off of your defenses has a similar rules issue to mine, and assuming it works how we think I probably just need to make my Immunity power sustained like yours are.

With all that said, I love your character concept. I've been wanting to make a "casts magic from random cards" character myself. I envisioned in my head Fate's six defensive cards floating in a circle around him, with the active one glowing and facing outward. In fact, he's got a lot of Twisted Fate vibe (from League of Legends), but it's not like he's super original either.

As a helpful note to everyone, the Power Level limits are located on page 25 of the Hero's Handbook (Deluxe or no) or partway down the page here: http://www.d20herosrd.com/character-creation. It's frustratingly out-of-the-way for how important it is for keeping the game in balance.


Pardum wrote:

Here is my guy. I will add in the complications and background later in the week when I get a chance.

** spoiler omitted **...

CrazyLou covered most of the issues. There are a few things that violate the PL limits.

The only other thing that I would add is that you aren't using your Array anywhere near it's potential. So the way Arrays work is essentially this: take the most expensive power in the set. That your base cost. Each additional (cheaper or equal) power adds +1 to the cost. I'm not sure how clear this is from the Excel document you're using. In any case, all of your other powers should try to get close to your most expensive power. In this case, I believe Soulfire is the most expensive power in the Offensive Suite Array, at 24 points. I didn't finish building the Array in Hero Lab, so I'm not positive.

For example, you can increase Earthquake by 1 rank, from 5 to 6, which would bring its cost exactly equal with Soulfire and cost you 0 actual PP.

A more obvious example is Terrifying Visage: it costs a whole 7 points. You could take off the range and instead add Area (Perception), which would make it affect literally everyone who sees you and Selective, which would let you exclude allies, and then up the power rank to 8 (the max for an Area or Perception power) and it would still only cost 8 points. You could then add Cumulative and Concentration to it and that would bring it up to the level of the Array. What would those do? Well that would make it so that if you rolled the same ability twice, you could add the effects together, essentially bumping someone up that Entranced/Compelled/Controlled line without making a new attack roll.

Now for the positive: I really like the concept. He's got some really neat powers.

You had mentioned that this character is able to take extra time to pick the specific card that he wants. I'm guessing that you weren't able to figure out how to make that happen. Here's what I would do: take off the Random limit and add the Activation: Move limit. That will make it so that you have to spend a Move Action to switch powers, essentially. Then we'll just have the mutual understanding that he can instead move in the same round but has to pick a power at random. I think that's fair. It should be worth a little less as a limit, since you have a choice, but I think it'll work fine.


If you elaborate within a Complication how he can fling a card at random (dice roll or, the more fun "your choice" option) if he doesn't take time to choose, that should work smoothly. Rounds out his complications, and once in a while he can do something unfortunate like scare some bystanders or web up his allies. I'm guessing stuff would originate from the card's destination rather than him, so it may need to clarify for some things.

I've been wondering about my Grab rolls and the Reaction power. With the addition of Elongation's bonus, does making a grab break limit? Is that bonus just applied to the initial accuracy roll, the DC, or both? Does the Reaction Damage alternate work how I think it does? I'm planning on moving the Immunity to Sustained regardless. Should I try and make the Immunity the primary power?

Of course, still taking suggestions from anyone about filling in the last 15 power points. I'll probably pick up Improved Initiative and Move-by-Attack to start.


Crazy Lou wrote:
...

Hmm. I was going to suggest you separate out those two powers to fill out your points, but it seems you have it well thought out. There's also the fact that you don't entirely like the Reaction Damage, thematically, and I'm inclined to agree.

You've mostly just stumbled onto a really efficient build. So here's what I can see doing to fill out some points:

* Separate out your Elongation and Leaping. I guess I could see it making sense that he can't use both in the same round, but he's also a super hero. Let him get a little silly with it. That only costs 2 points though, so it may not matter. - 2 points

* Advantages. You can add a couple more fighting advantages, given his background. In particular, the Tae Kwon Do (Dough) style typically has the Improved Defense and Takedown advantages. You could put a couple of ranks on Takedown if you really want to burn those points. - 2+

* Language. If it makes sense for your character, add Korean (or whatever) to your character if you think he would have learned his sensei's native language while taking care of him. - 1 point

* Inaccurate. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't believe you can use this on an area attack, as you don't make an attack roll on these. That'll cost you a few points, I guess. - 3 points

* Dough Whirl. Add another alternate attack that attacks everyone in a burst around you instead of a line. I know, that's only 1 point, but every point counts. - 1 point

* Skills. You could fill this out a bit. I understand if you don't see anything that really fits your character's background though. However, if he was the kind of kid that got bullied, a couple of ranks of Insight might make sense. Also, give him an Expertise of some sort. What does he care about beyond martial arts? Is there anything?

* Immunity to Critical Hits. That just seems like common sense. I can't see anyone finding this guy's weakness. - 2 points

* Bounceball. What about a Multiattack power that lets you bounce into multiple opponents in some sort of doughy frenzy? - 1 point

* Swinging Arms. From the Morph Power Profile. Use your elongated arms to swing like Spider-Man. Maybe let extreme. (Movement 1 - Swinging) - 2 points

That's all I've got.


Crazy Lou wrote:
<snip>

It looks like we cross-posted. See my other post for my thoughts about the Immunity. Yes, your Reaction power does work the way you envision, to my knowledge. If you are concerned about the power, you could instead take a broader set of damage immunities (bludgeoning, cutting, ect), at Half Effect. Hell, if you can free up some points, try taking Immunity to Toughness Effects at Half Effect, with the Limit that energy (and piercing... maybe?) attacks bypass it. That fits the character pretty well.

I'm checking out the Elongation thing now. I'll get back to you in a couple of minutes.


So it looks like Elongation does violate the limit. You'll have to either lower Elongation by 1 point or Strength by 2.

The description of Grab and Elongation aren't too clear on exactly what qualifies as a 'Grab check'. My instinct is that the bonus will apply to both your attack check to grab and as a modifier to your Strength when they try to escape. It really is a bit vague though.


Fingers crossed that i somehow figured out how to post here. I have no idea how to format things here, so you know, that's why my post looks like a trainwreck.

Okay, so my idea is, a gadgeteer hero with an innate understanding of technology, who is very much into following the letter as well as the spirit of the law. He calls himself Warden and has a grudge against a superpowered catburglar. I don't know if Sobran wants us to keep our backstories secrets, otherwise i would have posted it here.

When i say gadgeteer, he's really more of a guy with a heavily customized shotgun, and bunch of trick slug, and a scifi style visor. I have some points to spare and i'm planning to adapt both personality and stats based on what would fit best in the group.

oh right, character sheet can be found in picture form here: http://imgur.com/a/kO72E cause i don't know how to upload an excel sheet to the side


I don't have any problem with people sharing backgrounds if they wish. I'm hoping the team will start communicating as this comes together.


Know what? Screw it. I didn't want to go this far, but fine. I'm saying it now.

His dream was to be a baker before he got into martial arts.
I really didn't want to use that pun.

Going through my DCs, I had to lower Strength by 2 anyway. His Strength-based Area attacks were too high. At 8 Strength, they can't even exist under PL limit. Then what I'm doing is bumping his Elongation up by 1 rank, then adding a Limited flaw to remove the Grab bonus. Justifying it as Joe's stretching not letting him thin out so much; his fingers can stretch a bit more for those Advantages, but not enough for the wholesale Grab bonus. Overall he's no Plastic Man or Mr. Fantastic; he stretches out, not thinner, not to something noodly, no detail. He has to wear a mask for disguise instead of mooshing his face into something different. It's a good justification for why I don't want to take things like Morph. It also leaves his Grab DC under limit unless I add some Strength limited to Grab maneuvers, which I went ahead and did. Language would work best with a bigger time frame (and a specific nationality for his sensei), but I can throw it in later.

Good(?) news is, he's already immune to Critical Hits! And it turns our Bludgeoning damage is a common descriptor (duh), raising the cost to 15 points! Funny how I've reached a point where I can be happy about that.

But with that, I believe all of the math errors have already been pushed out of the way, leaving us with this!

Character Sheet:
Dough Joe
PL8

Abilities
Strength 6, Stamina 2, Agility 2, Dexterity 0, Fighting 4, Intellect 0, Awareness 2, Presence 0

Powers
Doughy Body:
Dense Dough: Protection 10 [Impervious], Resilient Dough: Enhanced Advantages 2 [Diehard, Great Endurance; Permanent], Grabby Dough Fingers: Enhanced Advantages 2 [Improved Grab, Improved Hold; Permanent], Powerful Dough: Enhanced Strength 3 [Permanent], Reconstructive Dough: Healing 5 [Limited to self], Strong Doughy Grip: Enhanced Strength 2 [Limited to Grab checks]
(37 points)
Rubbery Dough:
Stretchy Dough: Elongation 4 [Limited: No Grab Bonus], Bouncy Dough: Leaping 3, Swinging Dough: Movement 1 [Swinging]
(7 points)
Tae Kwon Dough [Joe's custom fighting style. He's pretty proud of the name.]:
Ear Boxing: Affliction 4 [Resisted and Overcome by Will; Dazed and Impared, Disabled and Stunned; Extra Effect; Limited Degree]
Alt: Super Stretchy Dough Punch: Damage 2 [Area (Line), Strength-Based]
Alt: Dough Whirl: Damage 2 [Area (Burst), Strength-Based]
(6 points)
Abs of Dough:
Cushiony Dough: Immunity 15 [Bludgeoning Damage; Sustained]
Alt: Brickwall Dough: Damage 5 [Reaction (to being hit); Limited to effect rank or attack’s Damage rank, whichever is less]
Amorphous Dough: Immunity 2 [Critical Hits]
(18 points)

Equipment
Headquarters: Dojo [The Dojo Joe lives, works, trains, and teaches at. Situated in a secluded part of town.]
Gym, Living Space, Secret
Standard Equipment
Cell Phone (2 ep), Camera (1 ep), Video Camera (2 ep), Computer (1 ep), Camera (1 ep)

Advantages
All-out Attack, Power Attack, Diehard, Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Interpose, Weapon Bind, Great Endurance, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Equipment 2, Move-by Action, Improved Initiative 2, Defensive Attack, Takedown 1, Chokehold

Skills
Acrobatics 2 (+4), Athletics 4 (+10), Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+10), Deception (+0), Expertise: Baking 4 (+4), Insight 4 (+6), Intimidation (+0), Perception 4 (+6), Persuasion (+0), Stealth (+2)

Offense
Initiative +10
Unarmed Damage +10, Damage 6
S.S. Dough Punch +0, Damage 8, Line Area 60ft by 6ft; DC 18
Grab +10, Damage , Strength DC 18
Dough Whirl +0, Damage 8, Burst Area 30ft Centered on Self; DC 18
Ear Boxing +10, Damage , Will DC 14

Defense
Dodge 4, Parry 4
Toughness 12 (Def Roll 0), Fortitude 10, Will 6

Power Points
Abilities 26 + Powers 68 + Advantages 15 + Skills 12 + Defenses 14 = Total 135

Complications
Guilt: Joe feels responsible for his sensei's disability. He goes out and fights crime to try and make things right.
Identity: Joe wears a mask when fighting crime to keep his identity secret.
Honor/Regret: If not for his powers, Joe would have gone on to tournaments and challenged other people, but to do so now would be cheating.

Backstory
Joe had always been kind of doughy. That’s the term he preferred at least; most people just called him fat. Mostly the popular kids at school. Not that Joe minded, at least. He was the type of guy to just let insults bounce off of him. Joe lived with his mother in their family bakery, an environment which probably contributed to his weight. In his senior year of high school, Joe was preparing to find a school to learn the finer points of confectionery.

That changed when his mother became concerned about the recent rise in crime. She signed him up in a local martial arts dojo, headed by a friendly Asian man. Joe didn't think it was his cup of tea, but he wasn't one to disappoint his mother after all the trouble she went through. He struggled, but thanks to his encouraging sensei and his natural unflappableness he began to improve.

After a few short months, Joe had attained his black belt, all but surpassing his sensei. His classmates had attributed it to natural talent, or his unshakable nature, but there was something else. As Joe exercised he lost a lot of weight, but no matter how much he lost he still looked doughy. His classmates could tell you that hitting him did almost nothing; even a solid hit could barely faze him. Joe could feel it himself: his body was changing, and not in any typical way.

His changes culminated one day when sparring with his sensei. A botched crime sent the suspect looking for a hiding place, and what he found was the dojo. Staring down two black belts, the criminal panicked. He fired his gun, hitting Joe’s sensei. Before he could even contemplate his own actions, Joe launched himself at the criminal. By instinct, he threw a punch from across the room. He watched his arm stretch out and strike the criminal before snapping back into place.

The criminal was swiftly arrested, and an ambulance called. His sensei survived, but the incident left him bound to a wheelchair. Thus, Joe took over the physical portion of teaching at the dojo. Wielding Tae Kwon Dough, his self-designed fighting style that meshes his sensei’s broad style with his doughy powers, he fights crime to ease the guilt on his conscience. Nobody in Emerald City knows that this new stretchy hero lives in an unassuming dojo in a secluded part of town.

By the way, protip for your sheet: The Forums tab gives you an output that goes to this forum nearly perfectly, I just changed the [size] code to the [bigger] code and made some minor cosmetic adjustments.


I know how you feel Lou, i have 11 PP left, and no idea what to use it on (I bought a 40 EP bike, just to throw away some PP), and i feel like i really should lower several of his stats, but i don't wanna have more points. I might just have to go to a bond wiki or something to get inspiration for gadgets.

Also, about backstory. The long version can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18M1VEn6lAIoebm0w6XMDOBSG5w92LNCt1tHFNqA aSas/edit?usp=sharing

The short version what i figure he's willing to say til the group gets on the "sharing personal phone numbers" stage, is that he's not an american citizen, and used to make gadgets for his nemesis (Outrunner) before becoming a hero.

ps. now accepting suggestion for gadgets, and or a way to stat demolition charges, preferably in such a way as to focus on it not being very useful in a combat situation.


Yeah, I totally forgot about the power level limits. I guess that is what I get for doing this late at night.

Crazy Lou wrote:
Make sure you make a component for that Precognition power

I would do this, however, I ran out of components on the sheet. I think the way that I added it in though makes the sheet still count it. I will also update my powers to make them fit in more. Much of them was pulled out of the Power Profiles, so I didn't even think about all of the extras that I could add in.

Sobran wrote:
take off the Random limit and add the Activation: Move limit. That will make it so that you have to spend a Move Action to switch powers, essentially. Then we'll just have the mutual understanding that he can instead move in the same round but has to pick a power at random

This sounds good to me. It sounds like what I was going for with my random flaw, just put more clearly. If he drew a card that he used one round, and then the next round he wanted to use the same one, would he have to spend his move action because he is picking the card, or not because he is already using that card?

Crazy Lou wrote:
I envisioned in my head Fate's six defensive cards floating in a circle around him, with the active one glowing and facing outward

This is a fantastic idea. I was also thinking for his utility cards when he picks one and activates it, the symbol of the card is burned onto his hand, and then fades away when he picks a new one.


*scratches head* I gotta be honest, I wasn't expecting the extra points to be the thing that made this difficult. Opinion: would this whole thing be easier if I just knocked it down to the default PP?


Crazy Lou wrote:

Know what? Screw it. I didn't want to go this far, but fine. I'm saying it now.

His dream was to be a baker before he got into martial arts.

Going through my DCs, I had to lower Strength by 2 anyway.

Hey hey! That's one way to solve it! With humor! No, wait. With math!

I've honestly always had trouble building characters with Elongation. Their grab bonus interacts strangely with Strength and the PL limits. I never thought of just limiting it. Good call.

I didn't notice that the Bludgeoning Immunity was at the wrong cost. Good catch.


Sobran wrote:
*scratches head* I gotta be honest, I wasn't expecting the extra points to be the thing that made this difficult. Opinion: would this whole thing be easier if I just knocked it down to the default PP?

God no. I was struggling to find points once I made my stats and array, I don't know what I would do with reduced points.


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Trodskij wrote:
I know how you feel Lou, i have 11 PP left, and no idea what to use it on (I bought a 40 EP bike, just to throw away some PP), and i feel like i really should lower several of his stats, but i don't wanna have more points. I might just have to go to a bond wiki or something to get inspiration for gadgets.

I took another look at your sheet and something jumped out at me: you're using his sudden understanding of technology as a justification for his gadgets, but have no actual power. This is fine, I guess, but it might be why you're having issues.

You don't have to give him anything crazy, like the ability to communicate with computers with his head or something. I get the sense that you want to keep it realistic.

At the very least, I feel like he should have a Senses power that lets him understand just about any technology by holding it in his hands and taking it apart. You might also consider a few ranks of Quickness that are Limited to only work with Inventor, to show how quickly he can assemble gadgets.

It also looks like you forgot his defenses. Toughness + Parry (or Dodge) max out at 16 in this power level. You need to either up your protection, your Dodge and Parry, or both. You may actually find yourself rustling for points if you do that, as raising Dodge and Parry to max while leaving Protection alone would cost you 15 points.

Will and Fortitude also have a similar relationship: added together, they max out at 16. I understand these being low, given that he's mostly a regular guy. You might consider raising Will a few points though, as he doesn't seem like a mental pushover.


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Pardum wrote:


This sounds good to me. It sounds like what I was going for with my random flaw, just put more clearly. If he drew a card that he used one round, and then the next round he wanted to use the same one, would he have to spend his move action because he is picking the card, or not because he is already using that card?

Technically, yes. You'll have to find a way to justify it. Maybe after use, the card automagically goes back into the deck and it shuffles itself. The exception is that powers that are Sustained or Continuous (basically anything other than Instant). I believe those would stay on until you activated something else.

I'll have to take another look at at Arrays though. I wonder if there's a way to make switching which part of the Array you're using cost a move action instead of the powers themselves.


Just so you know, I probably won't get around to editing my character until Thursday night because I have an exam that day (why my professor is having an exam a week and a half before our final I have no idea), so I will spend most of my free time studying. After that I should have it done before the weekend. I know what I need to change though, and I will be able to watch the forums.


Sobran wrote:
At the very least, I feel like he should have a Senses power that lets him understand just about any technology by holding it in his hands and taking it apart. You might also consider a few ranks of Quickness that are Limited to only work with Inventor, to show how quickly he can assemble gadgets

That's a really good point, i just gave him 8 technology and call it a day, but he should definitely have some more innate abilities to back it up. Ill think of something after school today (4 houjr school day, who said culæinary school was hard?)

about defenses i sorta deliberately left them low cause i didn't feel like i could justify high defense in a paperthin suit with little in tve way of actual combat training


Pardum wrote:
Just so you know, I probably won't get around to editing my character until Thursday night because I have an exam that day (why my professor is having an exam a week and a half before our final I have no idea), so I will spend most of my free time studying. After that I should have it done before the weekend. I know what I need to change though, and I will be able to watch the forums.

No worries. Thanks for the heads up.

Trodskij wrote:

That's a really good point, i just gave him 8 technology and call it a day, but he should definitely have some more innate abilities to back it up. Ill think of something after school today (4 houjr school day, who said culæinary school was hard?)

about defenses i sorta deliberately left them low cause i didn't feel like i could justify high defense in a paperthin suit with little in tve way of actual combat training

Fair enough. Just be aware that it's more than a little. Defense-wise, he's a PL 5 in a PL 8 game. Your opponents will be punching down. To put it in perspective, an average equal-level opponent will hit you roughly 70% of the time. To successfully resist the average damage, you will need to roll an unmodified 19 on a d20. If you were to roll an 8, you would be instantly knocked out.

I'm sure you see the problem.

Your guy is clever. He made a pretty b~#$+in' sword for his former friend. Meanwhile, the suit is equivalent to a basic ballistic vest, save that it works against all attacks. I think you could justify bumping that up a couple of points, given this guy's track record. Pair that with some bonus Dodge/Parry linked to either the suit (heightened reflexes or hydraulic speed) or his helmet (built-in tactical computer with warning signals) and you'd be just fine. I think the key is to spread the bonuses out over all of your defenses, so nothing is too crazy.

EDIT: Huh. This board has censoring. Good to know.


Got send home early due to fever induced dizziness and gutting knives being a horrible combo, so had time to check out hour reply

Sobran wrote:
Fair enough. Just be aware that it's more than a little. Defense-wise, he's a PL 5 in a PL 8 game. Your opponents will be punching down. To put it in perspective, an average equal-level opponent will hit you roughly 70% of the time. To successfully resist the average damage, you will need to roll an unmodified 19 on a d20. If you were to roll an 8, you would be instantly knocked out

Oh wow, i realized i was a bit below average in tankiness, just not that far below. Will definitely pjmp a few more poi ts into defense then

Also considering taking a few points out of the shotgun to afford some mobilith though that might just be something i'll get down the line


Warden 2.0 electric boogaloo is now finished, all 135 points spend, added mental quickness, made intelligence enhanced, and upped defenses across the board. http://imgur.com/a/SgIYE

Still planning to switch around stats once everyone knows what they're playing, so he can better fit whatever niche we're missing.

ps. can someone show me how to make those spiffy spoiler character sheets?

pps. Sobran, does Warden know Outrunners weakness, cause in that case i need to move some points around to take advantage of that.


Looking better. Dodge and Parry are still too low though, at 4 and 3. It doesn't look like those went up at all. Actually, I think they went down. Are there modifiers to those that aren't showing up in the actual Defense summary? I know that happened on someone else's sheet.

The new power was cut off, so I can't see it. Sad. Is there any chance that form will let you do a "Print to PDF"? I could get a proper look at things that way. I'll look at the sheet tonight after work. Alternatively, you could email me the file. PM me if you want to go that route.

Warden can now about Outrunner's weakness if you like. It makes no difference to me.


Trodskij wrote:
ps. can someone show me how to make those spiffy spoiler character sheets

I'm using OpenOffice as opposed to Excel, so mine will look a bit different. You should have a Forums tab on your sheet, like this. On that tab, the sheet formats your character info for forums and for wikis. Copy where it says to under "Atomic Think Tank Forums" and paste it here. The only tag that doesn't work here on Paizo is the [size] tag, so remove that or replace them with [bigger] tags.

As far as putting things in a spoiler:
[*spoiler=Secret Info]Hello![/*spoiler]
becomes

Secret Info:
Hello!

when you remove the asterisks.

Hope that helps.


Sobran wrote:
Looking better. Dodge and Parry are still too low though, at 4 and 3. It doesn't look like those went up at all. Actually, I think they went down. Are there modifiers to those that aren't showing up in the actual Defense summary? I know that happened on someone else's sheet.

Don't think so no, just haven't thrown a lot of points into parry/dodge, i'm gonna try to scrounge up some extra points somewhere to pump them up to about 5. does that sound more realistic?

Sobran wrote:
The new power was cut off, so I can't see it. Sad. Is there any chance that form will let you do a "Print to PDF"? I could get a proper look at things that way. I'll look at the sheet tonight after work. Alternatively, you could email me the file. PM me if you want to go that route.

Well i can just send you the excel sheet, but now that Lou showed me how to get the output, i should be able to just do

This::
Warden

PL8

Abilities
Strength 3, Stamina 1, Agility 2, Dexterity 2, Fighting 1, Intellect 4, Awareness 2, Presence 0

Powers
Smiling Julie (Shotgun):
None-Lethal Shotgun: Blast 6 [Easily removable (-2/5)]
Alt: Dragonfire Slug: Blast 4 [Area: Cone (+1), Alternate effect; Easily removable (-2/5)]
Alt: Electric Bolas Slug: Dazzle 6 [Dazed → Stunned → Incapacitated; Alternate effect,; Easily removable (-2/5)]
Alt: Smoke Grenade Slug: Concealment 3 [Area: Cloud (+1), Attack (+1), Alternate Effect; Easily removable (-2/5)]
Combat attachment: Damage 5 [Easily removable (-2/5)]
(14 points)
Warden Suit:
Armor: Protection 6 [Subtle (+1); Removable (-1/5)], Hydraulics: Enhanced Strength 3 [Subtle (+1); Removable (-1/5)], Rebreather: Immunity 2 [Suffocation; Removable (-1/5)]
(20 points)
Warden Helmet:
Precise Attack: Enhanced Advantages 4 [Precise Attack; Removable (-1/5)], Ranged Attack: Enhanced Advantages 3 [Ranged Attack; Removable (-1/5)], Accurate Attack: Enhanced Advantages 1 [Accurate Attack; Removable (-1/5)], HUD: Senses 6 [Darkvision (2), Direction sense (1), Distance sense (1), Extended (vision – 1), Time sense (1), ; Removable (-1/5)], Commlink (radio): Communication 2 [Area (+1), Selective (+1); Removable (-1/5); Subtle (+1)]
(21 points)
Technical mind:
Superpowered brain: Enhanced Intellect 4 [Permanent (0)], Quick learner: Quickness 9 [Limited to understanding technology; Subtle (+1)], Intuitive grasp of technology: Enhanced Advantages 1 [Skill mastery (technology)]
(13 points)

Equipment
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Speed: Speed 6 [200 km/h (120 mph)], Motorcycle Strength: Feature 3, Motorcycle Toughness: Feature 10, Motorcycle Defense: Feature 12, Motorcycle Alarm: Feature 1, Motorcycle Computer/Navsystem/Communications: Feature 1 [Additional feature (x 2)], Motorcycle Remote Control: Feature 1, Motorcycle Hidden Compartment: Feature 1, Motorcycle Afterburners: Speed 2 [Stacks on top of normal speed (800km/h – 500 mph); Noticeable (-1), Activation (-1)]Hideout
HQ workshop/Garage: Feature 1, HQ medbay: 1
Standard Equipment
Smartphone (2 ep), Revolver (dmg 4) (8 ep), Restraints (1 ep), Multi Tool (1 ep), Revolver (dmg 4) (1 ep), Rope (1 ep), Toolkit (1 ep)

Advantages
Quick Draw 1, Diehard 1, Inventor 1, Languages 2 [Danish, German], Equipment 10, Precise Attack 4, Ranged Attack 3, Eidetic Memory, Accurate Attack, Skill Mastery [Technology]

Skills
Acrobatics 4 (+6), Athletics 4 (+7), Close Combat: Firearms 3 (+4), Deception 2 (+2), Expertise: Welding 4 (+8), Insight 4 (+6), Intimidation (+0), Investigation 4 (+8), Perception 4 (+6), Persuasion 2 (+2), Ranged Combat: Rifles 3 (+8), Stealth (+2), Technology 8 (+12), Treatment 3 (+7), Vehicles 5 (+7)

Offense
Initiative +2
Shotgun blast +8, Damage 8, Can also be used to dazzle
Dragonfire slug +8, Damage 6
Riflebutt +4, Damage 5

Defense
Dodge 4, Parry 3
Toughness 7 (Def Roll 0), Fortitude 3, Will 6

Power Points
Abilities 16 + Powers 68 + Advantages 16 + Skills 25 + Defenses 10 = Total 135

Complications
Motivation: Responsibility
Enemy (Outrunner)

Sobran wrote:
Warden can now about Outrunner's weakness if you like. It makes no difference to me.

Then i kinda want to give him some rusty nail slugs. I'm thinking to fluff it as combined nullify and damage, with the nulify part having the flaw Limited (-2) due to it really only nullifying Outrunners powers, and resisted by fortitude. Then i'd make that part of the shotgun array. would that work for you?


Trodskij wrote:
Sobran wrote:
Looking better. Dodge and Parry are still too low though, at 4 and 3. It doesn't look like those went up at all. Actually, I think they went down. Are there modifiers to those that aren't showing up in the actual Defense summary? I know that happened on someone else's sheet.
Don't think so no, just haven't thrown a lot of points into parry/dodge, i'm gonna try to scrounge up some extra points somewhere to pump them up to about 5. does that sound more realistic?

To be balanced correctly at PL 8, your Toughness + Dodge should add up to 16. The same applies to Parry, but it makes sense to leave one of them lower if you see that as their tactical weakness. If your Toughness stays as it is, Dodge should be a 9. I can see an 8 if you're trying to save points or whatever. Anything lower is just asking for trouble. Every 2 full points effectively lowers your PL on the defensive side by 1 point.

On the Outrunner front, you don't need to worry about building a power with Nullify. I plan on giving her the Power Loss complication. That effectively covers what you're talking about: she contacts rust, she loses her powers. You only have to worry about getting the rust to her. Just call it a 1 point Feature: Rust Shot, honestly. It's way too specific to be otherwise useful.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to say that I like the Technical Mind power. I would change the wording on Quickness just to say that it works for both understanding and building technology. That just lets you build inventions in a fraction of the time it would normally take. Anything decent normally takes a day or so to make, which doesn't seem genre-appropriate.


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Poking my head in to also say you should add Strength-Based to your rifle butt. Makes 200% sense and you're well within limit to do so.

Also, how would a Subtle Quickness limited to understanding work? If you're expanding the limit to building tech, you might need to pitch that mod anyway unless you want subtle tinkering... Actually, that sounds solid. There's a gag there too; "We need a thing! Oh, you built it already."


Crazy Lou wrote:
Pardum wrote:

Here is my guy. I will add in the complications and background later in the week when I get a chance.

** spoiler omitted **...

I'm gonna go ahead and help since I'm online and could use some experience helping others.

The first red flag is that I can see you're breaking Power Level limits on a couple of things, most notably your Protection power. I believe we're using the same excel document to generate our characters, so check out the Calc tab; it should be giving you red errors on both your "Dodge and Toughness" and your "Parry and Toughness" categories. That's because, since our set series Power Level is 8, the cap for the sum of those two is 16, twice series PL. The Protection power bumps your Toughness all the way up to 14, which totals 17 on Tough+Parry and 21 on Tough+Dodge. Your Will defense is also breaking its limit with that power in effect.

Then, with your offenses, your Damage powers are also breaking the 16 limit. Since your accuracy with your attacks is +7, the effect rank can't break 9. Your Mystic Bolt attack, with Damage 10, does. I believe the rest are fine, limit-wise.

Concerning your defenses, be careful. I wouldn't make them rely on your randomness mechanic; you'd hate to have to waste turns looking for your mind shield while the psychic is wailing on you. If you need a drawback for defenses, consider making it take a move action to change/activate one. It also helps the parallel between you and frontliner like my character, who's just always that tough.

Make sure you make a component for that Precognition power. This sheet heavily favors "Powers" made of several "sub-Powers", so it can look weird, but you don't need to name the component anything fancy.

Other than that, it looks alright. I know it doesn't fit the sheet, but punch in each of your attacks in the Calc tab to check that they're within limits. They appear to be, but I'm not looking that closely.
The reaction alt off of your defenses has a similar rules issue to mine, and assuming...

So I am having a couple of questions for this. I don't see how any of my defenses are breaking power level limit. My dodge is 7 and toughness is 5 (including protection), and my parry is 3. This means that Toughness + Parry= 8 and Toughness + Dodge= 12.


Alright, here is the updated version of Dr. Fate. I changed everything that you guys sugessted besides the non-will defenses because I didn't see how they were breaking the limits. If you can explain that to me though I would be more than happy to change it.

Dr Fate V2:
[size=150]Dr. Fate
PL8[/size]

Abilities
Strength 0, Stamina 0, Agility 1, Dexterity 5, Fighting 0, Intellect 7, Awareness 7, Presence 3

Powers
"Offensive suit:
Alt: Earthquake: Affliction 6 [Resisted by dodge, overcome by fortitude (dazed and vulerable, stunned and prone); Ranged, Extra condition, Burst area 3, Alternate resistance (dodge); Limited degree, Activation: Movement]
Alt: Eldrich claws: Damage 9 [Multiattack,; Activation: Move; Affects insubstantial, Penetrating 9, Incurable, Innate]
Alt: Webs: Affliction 6 [Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage (hindered and vulnerable, Defensless and Immobilized); Ranged, Extra condition, Area (Cloud), Progressive; Limited degree, Activation: Move]
Alt: Terrifying Visage: Affliction 8 [(Resisted and overcome by Will, Entranced, Compelled, Controlled (limited to fleeing or cowering in terror), Blocked by Concealment; Area: Perception, Selective, Cumulative, Concentration; Activation: Move, limited]
Soulfire: Damage 8 [Resisted by Will, burns the spirit; Perception range, Alternate resistance; Activation: Move]
Alt: Hell banisment: Movement 1 [Resisted by Dodge or will, resistance DC 15; Attack, Perception ranged, Shapeable Area, Selective; Activation: Move; +2 resistance DC, Affects Insubstantial]
Alt: Sleep cloud: Affliction 6 [resisted and overcome by will (fatigued, exausted, asleep); Ranged, Area cloud, Cumlative, Selective; Activation: Move]
Alt: Mystic bolt: Damage 9 [Ranged, homing; Activation: Move]
(31 points)
Defensive suit: Ageis of Abbridon: Impervious Toughness 9 [Sustained; Activation: Move]
Alt: Cloak of Idolon: Concealment 4 [Magic, Sight; Sustained, Affects Others; Activation: Move]
Alt: Mind Shield: Enhanced Will 5 [limited to mental powers; Impervious, Sustained, Affects Others; Limited, Activation: Move]
Alt: Slickskin: Immunity 5 [Grab and Entrapment effects; Sustained, Affects Others; Activation: Move]
Alt: Massive weight: Immunity 10 [Being moved; Sustained; Activation: Move]
Alt: Unconcous blink: Teleport 2 [Reaction (imminent attack); Activation: Move]
(14 points)
Utility suit:
Alt: Wraith form: Insubstantial 2 [Activation: Move]
Alt: Shadow tendrils: Move Object 2 [Sustained, Perception ranged, Subtle; Activation: Move; Precise]
Beast of Bal'Hemoth: Summon 5 [Demon warrior (GG pg. 137) or Monstrous spider (GG pg. 140); Active; Activation: Move]
Alt: Blink: Teleport 3 [Accurate, ; Activation: Move; Turnabout]
(13 points)
Enchanted coat:
Protection enchantments: Protection 5, Dimensional pockets: Feature 2 [Has extradimensoal storage wher max. mass rank= effect rank]
(7 points)
Precognition [limited to 6 hours]:

(2 points)"

Ranged card effect +7, Damage See sheet, The effects are numbered 1-8 as listed on the sheet

Defense
Dodge 7, Parry 3
Toughness 5 (Def Roll 0), Fortitude 3, Will 9

Power Points
Abilities 46 + Powers 67 + Advantages 2 + Skills 6 + Defenses 14 = Total 135

Complications
"Justice- Dr. Fate Was always bullied as a child, and saw many people rise to power and favor in less than ethical ways, so now he has powers he will help even the odds for other people
Responsibility- Theodore is a doctoral student, meaning that he has class and research responsabilites
Obsession- Dr. Fate is obsessed with finding more about magic, and how he can grow in power.
Enemy- The mob is suspicious and angry with Theodore for his uncanny ability to predict race winners and loose them a lot of money."

Design Notes
Theodore Thume was always a nerdy kid, which lead to him to getting bullied as a child. To help combat this, he decided to learn how to entertain his bullies. He started with card tricks, eventually moving onto more complicated tricks. When he was accepted to the prestigious Biology program at Emerald City University on scholorship, he decided to focus on his education and put his magic hobby behind him. While his rise at the university was fast, it was not as fast as some of his peers that employed less ethical methods such as plagerisim and currying favor with the instructors. During his Junior year the funds for his scholorship was given to his peers that were "In higher standing with the university". He turned back to his old hobby of magic, putting on street magic shows to make money. Frustrated with his treatment, he began to become obsessed with magic, moving beyone simple tricks. As the years went on, he continued to excel at school, all the while delving deeper into magic history and tomes, trying to find true magic that could help him with his situation. He percivered and was accepted into the Ph. D. program, and for a while his obsession waned. But then, when he still refused to kiss up to his lab manager and fell behind he began scouring tomes again. Two years in he finally found it. He read an old tome that he found in the back of an old library. Suddenly he gets a vision that occurs later in the night. Realizing that he has finally found the key, he went through all of the old tomes that he had discarded, thinking they were nothing more fantasy. He slowly begins to learn more about the mystic art, eventually finding a spell that binds three mystical cards to him, granting him even more power. He learns about artificing, slowly adding more cards to his deck. He stops doing streat magic, relying on his precognition to help him make money betting at the race tracks, much to the anger of the mob that runs it. Theodore eventually decides that he should use his new powers for more than himself, and sets out at night as Dr. Fate, looking to help the people of Emerald city, and hopefully learn more about magic.


Check that Mind Shield, bro. I can't verify the other ones at the moment, so I could have slipped, but your Will breaks limit with that Mind Shield power on.

EDIT: Whoops! Posted without refreshing. Will double check when I get a couple minutes.


Ok, let me clear things up. Your defenses' limits are set at 16; twice series power level. The sum of Toughness and Dodge, Toughness and Parry, Dodge and Parry, and Will and Fortitude must be below 16. An attack can't have more than 16 total to its effect rank and attack bonus. If you have an attack that lacks a roll to hit (Area attacks, mostly), it is limited to series PL in effect rank. Finally, any skill checks you have can't exceed series PL plus 10 in bonus.

Your calculations on defense are ignoring your powers. Your Toughness may be 5 thanks to your coat, but temporary bonuses still count toward the limit. The Aegis of Abbridon is providing you 9 points of Toughness when it's active, and that's where the trouble lies. Mind Shield is doing the same thing to your Will/Fort limit. You may need to tinker with the powers' modifers until you're happy with the reduced numbers they need to give you.


Crazy Lou has the right idea. I can't blame you for not seeing it. An array-heavy build like yours makes it difficult to spot that kind of thing sometimes. Essentially you have to add up what the absolute highest defense you could have and calculate using that. The Mind Shield only puts you 1 point over, but the Coat + Aegis puts you significantly over.

Lou is right on the area effect thing, but to be fair, I really didn't notice that in the rules on the first read-through. Area effects get auto-limited to the PL (8), because there is no attack check.

Regardless, the other feedback: the powers are looking pretty sweet and I like your approach. I was going to suggest you take off the Move Activation because it isn't saving you that many points, but I think you'll be okay given that you can use the powers randomly if you need to stay on the move.

Because of the way the PL Limits interact with defenses, I might suggest paring down a couple of abilities in your larger suits and using that to build a higher, static toughness. Perhaps that Aegis (a lesser form, that is), is essentially a permanent enchantment on the coat.

So since it looks like you're getting pretty close, here's what I'm going to do at this point: I'm going to build your character in Hero Lab and then have it spit out a PDF for me. The end of that PDF will show Validation errors, which should give you a good idea of any issues that remain. I'll link it here when I'm done. Should take about half an hour. I could run a little long, given the number of abilities you have, but I'll do my best.


Omg. My eyes. Do I still have eyes? Can someone check?!

The formatting on your sheet made that a little hard to do and I think I was staring too hard for a while. So. My professional opinion is that you're trying to do too much. It's a good concept, but you might have to pull it back a little to make a reasonable character. For example, you took almost no skills in order to make this happen. I'm actually not sure what your skills are beyond Ranged Combat. Be that as it may, I'm going to touch on a couple of specific things that might not be obvious from the PDF I'm about to post:

Cost: The cost of some of your abilities appears to be more than you realized. The Offensive Suit is the most egregious, with several abilities costing 31 PP by themselves, with each additional power of equal or lesser cost adding another 1 PP on top of it. However, your most expensive ability is Sleep Cloud, at 35 PP. Add in the other seven abilities and it brings the total on Offensive Suit to 42 PP.

Unconscious Blink is, I'm afraid, an ability I can't allow as written. You can simulate a fairly similar thing by using the Insubstantial power effect with Reaction on it to simulate a momentary blinking out of existence. So why can't you use it with Teleport? Well for one thing you need to change the action type to Standard or Free first, which would just be a weird workaround. The second thing is that Insubstantial has a built-in way to circumvent it: either an attack with Affects Insubstantial or each Insubstantial power is required to have something it is vulnerable to. Energy attacks, for example. In contrast, your Teleport would simply make you invulnerable to all attacks. Switch it to one of the Insubstantial effects and note what you are vulnerable to (i.e. what can disrupt your teleport) or drop it altogether. I suggest vulnerability to area effects.

And now, your PDF!


Warden v 0.3 is now finished, removed most offensive advantages (didn't feel like they fit the character anyways). Pumped defenses up to respectable levels (he's no hulk, but he isn't glass anymore either). Spent the leftover points on a bit of gear (notably explosives that can only damage objects - if you will allow it?).

Character sheet can be found

here:
Warden
PL8

Abilities
Strength 3, Stamina 1, Agility 2, Dexterity 2, Fighting 1, Intellect 4, Awareness 2, Presence 1

Powers
Smiling Julie (Shotgun):
None-Lethal Shotgun: Blast 6 [Easily removable (-2/5)]
Alt: Dragonfire Slug: Blast 4 [Area: Cone (+1), Alternate effect; Easily removable (-2/5)]
Alt: Electric Bolas Slug: Dazzle 6 [Dazed → Stunned → Incapacitated; Alternate effect,; Easily removable (-2/5)]
Alt: Smoke Grenade Slug: Concealment 3 [Area: Cloud (+1), Attack (+1), Alternate Effect; Easily removable (-2/5)]
Combat attachment: Damage 5 [Strength based (0); Easily removable (-2/5)]
(14 points)
Warden Suit:
Armor: Protection 8 [Subtle (+1); Removable (-1/5)], Hydraulics: Enhanced Strength 3 [Subtle (+1); Removable (-1/5)], Rebreather: Immunity 2 [Suffocation; Removable (-1/5)]
(23 points)
Warden Helmet:
HUD: Senses 6 [Darkvision (2), Direction sense (1), Distance sense (1), Extended (vision – 1), Time sense (1), ; Removable (-1/5)]
(0 points)
Technical mind:
Razor sharp mind: Quickness 9 [Limited to mental (-1)], Quick learner: Enhanced Intellect 4 [Permanent (0)], Intuitive grasp of technology: Enhanced Advantages 1 [Skill mastery (technology)]
(14 points)
General Gear:
Blunted explosives: Damage 10 [Area: Burst (+1); Limited: objects (-1) Removable (-2/5)]
(6 points)

Equipment
Motorcycle
Motorcycle Speed: Speed 6 [200 km/h (120 mph)], Motorcycle Strength: Feature 3, Motorcycle Toughness: Feature 10, Motorcycle Defense: Feature 12, Motorcycle Alarm: Feature 1, Motorcycle Computer/Navsystem/Communications: Feature 1 [Additional feature (x 2)], Motorcycle Remote Control: Feature 1, Motorcycle Hidden Compartment: Feature 1, Motorcycle Afterburners: Speed 2 [(800km/h – 500 mph); Noticeable (-1), Activation (-1)]Hideout
HQ workshop/Garage: Feature 1, HQ Infirmary/Living space: Feature 1, HQ secret/Size: Feature 1 [Disguised as worn down garage – size: medium], HQ Comunication: Feature 1Suit integrated gear
Flashlight: Feature 1, Fire extinguisher: Feature 1, Rope: Feature 1
Standard Equipment
Smartphone (2 ep), Revolver (dmg 4) (8 ep), Restraints (1 ep), Multi Tool (1 ep), Revolver (dmg 4) (1 ep), Videocamera (in smartphone) (2 ep), Medkit (1 ep), Audiorecorder (in smartphone) (1 ep), Rusty nail slugs (1 ep), Zippo (1 ep)

Advantages
Diehard 1, Inventor 1, Languages 2 [Danish, German], Equipment 12, Beginner's Luck, Eidetic Memory 1, Skill Mastery 1 [Technology]

Skills
Acrobatics 4 (+6), Athletics 4 (+7), Close Combat: Firearms 3 (+4), Deception 2 (+3), Expertise: Welding 2 (+6), Insight 4 (+6), Intimidation (+1), Investigation 4 (+8), Perception 4 (+6), Persuasion 2 (+3), Ranged Combat: Rifles 5 (+7), Ranged Combat: Pistols 2 (+4), Stealth (+2), Technology 8 (+12), Treatment 3 (+7), Vehicles 5 (+7)

Offense
Initiative +2
Shotgun blast +7, Damage 8, Can also be used to dazzle
Dragonfire slug +7, Damage 6
Riflebutt +4, Damage 8
Revolver +4, Damage 4

Defense
Dodge 6, Parry 5
Toughness 9 (Def Roll 0), Fortitude 5, Will 6

Power Points
Abilities 18 + Powers 57 + Advantages 18 + Skills 26 + Defenses 16 = Total 135

Complications
Motivation: Responsibility
Enemy (Outrunner)


Crazy Lou wrote:
he Aegis of Abbridon is providing you 9 points of Toughness when it's active

This is not what I meant for it to do at all. I meant for it to just add impervious to my current toughness ranks, not add on to my toughness. The description on the character sheet says "Your Toughness defense becomes Impervious up to your rank. This does not add to your Toughness defense.", so I didn't realize that it added to my toughness. I have changed mind shield to fit the power constraints.

Sobran wrote:
I'm actually not sure what your skills are beyond Ranged Combat

I'm sorry, I didn't realize that my skills didn't get included in the output. I have: 2 ranks in Expertise: Biology, for a total of +9; 5 ranks in Expertise: Magic for a total of +12; 1 rank in investigation, for a total of +8; 2 ranks in Ranged combat: card effects, for a total of +7; 1 rank in sleight of hand, for a total of +6; and one rank in treatment for a total of +8. The rest of them I am comfortable with either the total I have for them being untrained, or they don't make sense for my character to have ranks in them.

Sobran wrote:
Area effects get auto-limited to the PL (8), because there is no attack check.

Huh, I didn't know this. Could you point it out in the rules so I can show other people in the future? That being said, none of my area attacks have more than a rank of 8.

Sobran wrote:
Cost: The cost of some of your abilities appears to be more than you realized. The Offensive Suit is the most egregious, with several abilities costing 31 PP by themselves, with each additional power of equal or lesser cost adding another 1 PP on top of it.

So I am going to go through my powers one by one, and note any differences, because I think you may have accidentally put some in wrong. I am also going to let you know what my sheet says that it costs, so you can tell me if it is wrong or not.

offensive suit:

Mystic bolt: Damage 9 (DC 24), Increased range: Rnaged (+1/r), Homing 1 (+1 f), Activation: Movement (-1/r) Total: 10
Earthquake: Affliction 6 (Dazed and Vulnerable, Stunned and Prone), Alternate Resistance (dodge) (+0/r), Increased range: ranged (+1/r), Extra condition (+1/r), Burst area 3 (+3/r), Limited degree (-1/r), Activation: movement (-1/r) Total: 24
Eldrich Claws: Damage 9 (DC 24), Multiattck (+1/r), Affects Insubstantial 2 (+2 f), Penetrating 9 (+9 f), Incurable (+1 f), Innate (+1 f), Activation: Movement (-1/r) Total: 22
Hell Banishment:: Movement (Dimensional 1), Attack (+0) resisted by dodge or will, Perception ranged (+2/ r), Shapeable Area (+1/ r), Selective (+1/r), Affects Insubstantial 2 (+2 f), extra ranks 3 (+6 f), Activation: Move (-1/r) Total: 16
Sleep Cloud: Affliction 6 (Fatigued, Exhausted, Asleep), Increased Range: ranged (+1/r), Cloud Area (+1/r), Selective (+1/r), Activation: move (-1/r) Total: 24
Soulfire: Damage 8 (DC 23), Increased range: Perception (+2/r), Alternate resistance (will) (+1/r), Activation: Move (-1/r) Total: 24
Terrifying Visage: Affliction 6 (Entranced, Compelled, Controlled; limited to fleeing or cowering in fear), Increased area: Perception (+2/r), Selective (+1/r), Cumulative (+1/r), Concentration (+1/r), Limited (-1/r), Activation: Move (-1/r) Total: 24 I realized that I had calculated this wrong, so I reduced the rank by 2
Webs:Affliction 6 (Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless and Immobile), Alternate resistance (dodge) (+0/r),Increased range: ranged (+1/r), Extra condition (+1/r), Area: cloud (+1/r), Progressive (+2/r), Limited degree (-1/r), Activation: Move (-1/r) Total: 24

Defensive suit:

Ageis of Abbridon: Impervious Toughness 9, Sustained (+0), Activation: Movement (-1/r) Total: 5 I think this is the cost to get it to do what I want it to, which is just add impervious ranks to my toughness, not actually add toughness
Cloak of Idolon Concealment (visual senses), Sustained (+0), Affects others (+1/r), Activation: Move (-1/r) Total: 8 I realized this was also too expensive, so I removed concealment from magic
Massive WeightImmunity (being moved), Sustained (+0), Activation: Move (-1/r) [b]Total: 5[b]

I will go through the rest later, but please let me know if I am actually on the right track with how I am calculating the cost.


Pardum wrote:
This is not what I meant for it to do at all. I meant for it to just add impervious to my current toughness ranks, not add on to my toughness. The description on the character sheet says "Your Toughness defense becomes Impervious up to your rank. This does not add to your Toughness defense.", so I didn't realize that it added to my toughness. I have changed mind shield to fit the power constraints.

Oooooh! Sorry for the misunderstanding. That is a thing that exists, yes. Unfortunately, the displayed name is nearly identital to new ranks of Toughness with Impervious.

Pardum wrote:
<skills>

Thanks, I'll get those added to the sheet.

Pardum wrote:
Huh, I didn't know this. Could you point it out in the rules so I can show other people in the future?

Yeah, no problem! It's a tiny sentence. It's located on page 25 in the Deluxe Heroes Handbook. I think the page number is the same in the regular Handbook as well. It reads:

Attack & Effect: The total of your hero’s attack bonus
and effect rank with that attack cannot exceed twice
the series power level. If an effect allows a resistance
check, but does not require an attack check, its effect
rank cannot exceed the series power level.

Pardum wrote:
<powers>

I'll get to that next. I won't be able to do a full check before work, so it'll have to wait until after. That said, a brief check shows that it could be both things.

I checked Sleep Cloud first, since it was obviously the worst offender. There was one mistake of mine: I had Range at Perception Range rather than just Ranged. However, the other thing is that the power listed in Dr. Fate v2 includes Cumulative, while the list you provide here does not. If the power does not include Cumulative, then the cost is almost correct. It actually costs 23 points instead of 24, as Activation reduces the cost by one flat point.

I'll take a look at the rest of the list after work.


Sobran wrote:
as Activation reduces the cost by one flat point

I think this is the problem right here. When you said "activation: move limit" I interpreted it as a version of limited (-1/rank), not a modification of Activation (-1 flat), so I misunderstood. I will go back an rebuild my character with it being a flat -1 instead and will post version 3 soon.


Alright, I went back and fixed all of my powers. I just ended up getting rid of the Unconscious Blink power, because I didn't really like the way that I would have to change it to make it fit. It just didn't really seem to fit in. The highest cost power in my defensive suit went down by 1 as well, so I gained an extra 2 PP. I spent them on getting the improved initiative advantage, and the Well-off benefit advantage (to fit my backstory).
So here is

Dr. Fate V3:

=Dr. Fate=
===PL8===
===Abilities===
Strength 0, Stamina 0, Agility 1, Dexterity 5, Fighting 0, Intellect 7, Awareness 7, Presence 3

===Powers===
#N/A

===Equipment===

===Advantages===
Ritualist, Artificer, Improved Initiative 1, Benefit 1 [Well-off]

===Skills===
Athletics (+0), Deception (+3), Expertise: Biology 2 (+9), Expertise: Magic 5 (+12), Insight (+7), Intimidation (+3), Investigation 1 (+8), Perception (+7), Persuasion (+3), Ranged Combat: Card effects 2 (+7), Sleight of Hand 1 (+6), Stealth (+1), Treatment 1 (+8)

===Offense===
Initiative +5
Ranged card effect +7, Damage See sheet, The effects are numbered 1-8 as listed on the sheet

===Defense===
Dodge 7, Parry 3
Toughness 5 (Def Roll 0), Fortitude 3, Will 9

===Power Points===
===Abilities 46 + Powers 65 + Advantages 4 + Skills 6 + Defenses 14 = Total 135===

===Complications===
"Justice- Dr. Fate Was always bullied as a child, and saw many people rise to power and favor in less than ethical ways, so now he has powers he will help even the odds for other people
Responsibility- Theodore is a doctoral student, meaning that he has class and research responsabilites
Obsession- Dr. Fate is obsessed with finding more about magic, and how he can grow in power.
Enemy- The mob is suspicious and angry with Theodore for his uncanny ability to predict race winners and loose them a lot of money."

===Design Notes===
Theodore Thume was always a nerdy kid, which lead to him to getting bullied as a child. To help combat this, he decided to learn how to entertain his bullies. He started with card tricks, eventually moving onto more complicated tricks. When he was accepted to the prestigious Biology program at Emerald City University on scholorship, he decided to focus on his education and put his magic hobby behind him. While his rise at the university was fast, it was not as fast as some of his peers that employed less ethical methods such as plagerisim and currying favor with the instructors. During his Junior year the funds for his scholorship was given to his peers that were "In higher standing with the university". He turned back to his old hobby of magic, putting on street magic shows to make money. Frustrated with his treatment, he began to become obsessed with magic, moving beyone simple tricks. As the years went on, he continued to excel at school, all the while delving deeper into magic history and tomes, trying to find true magic that could help him with his situation. He percivered and was accepted into the Ph. D. program, and for a while his obsession waned. But then, when he still refused to kiss up to his lab manager and fell behind he began scouring tomes again. Two years in he finally found it. He read an old tome that he found in the back of an old library. Suddenly he gets a vision that occurs later in the night. Realizing that he has finally found the key, he went through all of the old tomes that he had discarded, thinking they were nothing more fantasy. He slowly begins to learn more about the mystic art, eventually finding a spell that binds three mystical cards to him, granting him even more power. He learns about artificing, slowly adding more cards to his deck. He stops doing streat magic, relying on his precognition to help him make money betting at the race tracks, much to the anger of the mob that runs it. Theodore eventually decides that he should use his new powers for more than himself, and sets out at night as Dr. Fate, looking to help the people of Emerald city, and hopefully learn more about magic.


You said that the other way I posted it was hard to read, so hopefully this will be better. To be honest, I think that I accidentally deleted something that formatted the sheet properly. By the way, what is everyone's general location? I seem to be at opposite times than most of you. I'm in America's Midwest.

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